Friday
We arrived in Seattle around noon and caught the light rail straight from the airport to Beacon Hill station, just south of downtown. From there we took an Uber to our AirBNB and ran into our host right when we got there. We stayed in a private studio right in the basement of our host’s house, with a beautiful view of the Sound, downtown Seattle, and the space needle.
Our host Mumtaz was nice enough to drop us off at a bus stop so we could catch the ferry from West Seattle to downtown. We just missed the ferry so we grabbed some lunch at this awesome Korean, Hawaiian fusion joint. Afterwards we caught the ferry and got dropped off at the downtown waterfront and explored all the piers and shops nearby. We walked to Pike’s Place Market - which was an absolute zoo - and climbed about 200 stairs just to get to the top.
Cody and I walked pretty much everywhere that day, but we made time to eat some delicious seafood bisque from Pike Place Chowder. It’s impossible to get good seafood bisque in the South so we were super happy to have some in Seattle. There was a huge ferris wheel on the pier but we were so tired that we headed back to the AirBnb for the night.
Saturday
I was hell bent on eating as much seafood as possible while we were here, so this day we headed straight back to Pike’s Place Market to have some steamed dungeness crab. Simply amazing. We also had some fresh peaches and a blueberry bagel with homemade cream cheese.
Next we walked to the EMP Museum to meet my friend Clinton from UTD. He moved to Seattle about a year and a half ago so it was really fun to catch up. Clinton and his fiance Sannah took us to a speakeasy in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle. You can only get in if you make reservations, and you only have a 15 minute window to show up on time. It was located upstairs from a fancy bar, and you had to pickup a phone for them to buzz you in the locked safe door. How cool! There was no official drink menu, so you just told the bartender what you liked and they crafted a custom cocktail based on that.
After we had our fill of craft cocktails, we went to a more affordable and relaxed bar called the Unicorn and watched a local punk band perform. Cody and I also got to wear the most awesome helmets we had ever seen. After a few drinks here we headed out to the street and got a Seattle dog, which is a hotdog with cream cheese and onions.
The last Ferry back to West Seattle left at 10:30, so we had to hustle back to the docks and made it with 10 minutes to spare. We trekked back to the room and fell asleep pretty much immediately.
Sunday
Last full day in Seattle! The only thing we had to do was meet up with my friend Christian, who I met on the internet over 10 years ago. He lives a few hours away in Spokane and drove into Seattle after I told him I’d be visiting. Before meeting Christian, Cody and I went to Alki beach in far West Seattle and finally had some fish ‘n chips. There was a craft fair going on by the beach so after stuffing ourselves we checked out all the local vendors. We killed a few hours by the beach just walking around, eating ice cream, and talking. That area was a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle of downtown Seattle so we took some much needed time to just relax.
A few hours later Christian picked us up and we drove over to the Fremont Urban Beer Garden for some good drinks and conversation. We grabbed some pizza at a place nearby and talked about how we met 10 years ago playing games on the internet, and what we’ve been doing since then. I feel very fortunate to have met so many people across the world, and even more so that I’ve been able to meet up with them in person.
We exchanged local beers before parting ways - I gave him a giant bottle from Jester King, and he gave me 5 bottles from his favorite breweries around Spokane. I’m super bummed that we didn’t get a picture together, also because he has an amazing beard that I could only dream of growing.
Monday
Cody and I are sitting at SeaTac airport as I type this watching the planes take off. Seattle was tons of fun but I’m ready to go back home to the land of BBQ, food trucks, and my cat.
-Nick